Understanding Irony

Irony can be tricky (just ask Alanis Morissette), and we might need a little help breaking down what is – and isn’t – ironic to our students. Feel free to grab these mini-lecture slides designed to help your students know the differences between verbal, situational, and dramatic irony. To project these pages, just use the full-screen view or “slideshow” feature in any PDF reader or drop these pages into your own Powerpoint, Keynote, or Google Slides presentation.

Want to see how I present the slides to my kids? Check out this video from my YouTube channel:

Hope this helps lighten your prep load a bit this week. Teach on, everyone!

14 thoughts on “Understanding Irony

  1. Thank you! I bought your “Full Year of English Class Terms & Literary Devices” and used the first “M.U.G. Shot,” “Lit Term Tuesday” this week. The kids responded well to them, and I am grateful that I have such well-crafted resources that save me tons of time. I am looking forward to teaching Irony.

  2. Thanks so much, Michelle! Glad to know the materials are a good match for your classes. Have a great 15-16! 🙂

  3. Perfect! I have this in the full year bell ringer bundle, and will be using your slides a bit out of order so I can teach my students verbal irony to go along with The Cask of Amantillado this week.

  4. Great, Stephanie! I’ll also be getting to Poe in our short story unit in a few weeks. Oh that Montresor, the ultimate unreliable narrator, right? Hope your school year is rolling smoothly! Thanks for commenting. 🙂

  5. Phew! I had found this last year and it was a great boon. Then came the “Great USB Wipe” of January 2016 and, well….*sigh*.

    All I had in my head was that it was A) a short slide show and B) SOMEHOW you were involved. 🙂

    Thank you again for helping spark the creativity of students (and teachers) all over.

  6. Well, Vanessa, I’m so glad you found me…again!
    🙂 Laura

  7. Tanya Sanchez says:

    Can you do a video series on how to make my products look as good as yours? I think I have some great, original assignments that I created and use in my classroom, but I don’t know how to make them look enticing on TeacherspayTeachers.

  8. Hi Tanya,
    So glad you like the look of the things I build. 🙂 I primarily use Adobe Creative Suite, mainly Photoshop and InDesign, for my materials and there’s a bunch of video support for those programs on YouTube, if you’re interested in learning the nuts and bolts. There’s a bit of an expense and learning curve with Adobe, but I really appreciate the design freedom those programs allow and I recommend them whole-heartedly. Hope this helps in your creative ventures!
    Laura

  9. Hello Laura,
    Thank you for sharing your irony slides.; I took advantage of your free offer. I enjoyed the slides and thought the presentation was easy to follow. I plan to search other material you have created when I have more time during a vacation.

  10. Terrific, Laurel! So glad you found me. Hang in there – spring break’s almost here!!! 🙂

  11. Thank you so much! I appreciate you sharing, and, as always, I hope you are doing awwesome! 🙂

  12. ‘Gift of the Magi’ is an example of situational, not dramatic, irony. We, the audience, don’t know what Jim’s up to – we are not an audience in the know. To use your own words, there’s no ‘gut wrenching’ the reader experiences. The outcome of Della’s plan certainly is unexpected though. (Disparity of intention and result.)

    Of course, it’s (situationally) ironic that a person trying to teach about irony does the exact opposite in misinforming her students. 😜

  13. Drat, John. That IS ironic! Time for a re-read, it seems. Maybe let’s use Romeo and Juliet, instead?

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